The present invention broadly relates to an improved end cutter head for gear cutting machines. The invention also relates to an improved cutter intended for use in an end cutter head of a gear cutting machine, said cutter having a top clearance surface or face and two flank clearance surfaces or faces. Furthermore, the invention also relates to a new and improved method for refacing a cutter having more than one cutting face, at least two flank clearance surfaces and a top clearance surface, said cutter being intended for use in an end cutter head of a gear cutting machine.
A prior art end cutter head used to manufacture gears is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,236,834 and comprises a number of cutters, all of which are located on a circle around the end cutter head axis.
In this known end cutter head the bottom of the tooth gap or slot formed between the teeth of the gear and the flanks of such tooth gap or slot of gear are machined by the same cutting surface or face. Consequently, the cut is not formed cleanly and the cutting output is impaired due to the small rate of feed or advance which is permitted to avoid the occurrence of disturbing vibrations.
A known cutting or milling head for producing curved teeth is dislosed in published German Patent Publication No. 2,600,187 and contains two cutters arranged within each radial slot. One of said cutters serves to produce the inner tooth flank while the other of said two cutters serves to produce the outer tooth flank of the gear.
Both the cutters are arranged one after the other, i.e., in tandem, within the associated tooth slot or space as seen in their direction of movement, and thus, require a greater amount of space. This greater amount of space is required, because each one of the cutters has to be individually retained and because there must be a sufficient distance between the two cutters to enable the cuttings or chips to be carried away.